Here’s the slightly delayed latest issue of Movement, events over the last few weeks have meant this issue has changed a few times before publication. As is often a problem with print media our two cover stories may develop considerably within hours of publication. You can keep up to date with these stories and more on the Movement website, which hosts extensive links from across the movement for freedom of movement and equality for all (and beyond).

The No Borders UK Newsletter has been rotated around local No Borders groups for the last few years. Last month’s network gathering in London, signalled that it is now our turn to produce the publication. We intend to create a more regular and broad based periodical, drawing in others that work to end the inhuman cycle of detention, deportation and death through the abolition of migration control. As a statement of intent we are re-naming and re-launching!

Help spread the word about No Borders, download the .pdf, print out on A4 paper and photocopy as many as you can get away with, give to friends, family and strangers. At the moment the newsletter is being put together by the Bristol group, in the past, Manchester has been responsible for production, in time perhaps we’ll take on putting issues together here in south Wales. You can download previous issues here: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | (more recent issues don’t appear to be online)

The front cover bears a quote from a text written by the Haunt of Albanian Migrants and circulated at a protest following the murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos by police in Greece. The outburst of rage that has followed this latest act of violence by the state has spread to all sections of Greek society that suffer under capitalism, not least migrants. As part of yesterday’s international day of solidarity members of No Borders South Wales joined with South Wales Anarchists in the centre of Cardiff to show our support for the uprising in Greece.

Though we heartily recommend the rest of the content of the publication, for ease of access we’ve reproduced our article below (usually we have more input, see previous issues), regular readers of this blog may find large parts of the text somewhat familiar!

ID Cards Are Here!

Biometric ID cards came into force for non-EEA students and spouses on 25th November. The UK Border Agency office at 31-33 Newport Road, Cardiff is one of only six registering centres in the country. No Borders South Wales protested there on the day ID cards came into force as part of a coordinated day of action outside every centre and also on the day the Cardiff office started the process of interrogation, photographing and fingerprinting.

Both the protests were well attended, attracting well over 50 people each; we displayed banners, held placards, waved giant mock ID cards and distributed over 1000 leaflets. The public reaction was overwhelmingly supportive.

These new ID cards are not only a repressive measure against non-EEA students and spouses, they are the first shot in an attack against everyone’s liberty. This initial step by the UK authorities targets a largely voiceless migrant group, who have the least chance to complain and the most to lose. By using a cynical appeal to the worst kind of bigotry the government is following the example of repressive regimes throughout history. Immigration law already gives the Home Office powers it would like to exert over everybody. By resisting the repression of migrants, we defend the freedom of everyone!

ID cards are just one part of a wider plan to increase government regulation over all our lives. To reverse the waves of authoritarianism that currently dominate the political mainstream, we need to build a movement that is committed to universal freedom and rejects the legitimacy of state interference. It is up to everyone who cares about freedom and equality to organise to oppose these worrying trends.

Issue #24 of the South Wales Anarchist newsletter “Gagged!” is out now. As usual it contains a number of articles by No Borders South Wales. All the information in “No ID card protest in Newport”, “We loves ya, Babi” “No Border Fest Success” & “Nosey cops stalk public” have already appeared on this blog. South Wales Anarchists provide the rest of the content on a range of issues including climate change, anti-fascism, corruption and the economy.

The recently produced first issue of the No Borders South Wales Newsletter, made the news in it’s own right yesterday when Media Wales published an article under the headline: ‘Asylum campaigners launch newsletter‘ then followed it up with a a link to this very website! Three cheers for David James of South Wales Echo, a fantastic bit of free publicity!

ASYLUM campaigners who opposed the deportation of late Ghanaian cancer sufferer Ama Sumani and are fighting on behalf of several other asylum seekers, have produced their first newsletter.

The group, called No Borders South Wales, kicked off their first two-page newsletter with a report about a protest outside the Border and Immigration Agency regional headquarters on Newport Road, Cardiff, last Wednesday.

The group plans to hold monthly similar pickets as it fights the deportation of other South Wales-resident asylum seekers including pregnant Nigerian Kemi Ayinde who, as a teenager, was trafficked into the UK to work as a child prostitute.

Then you should be concerned about the repression of migrants by government and corporate immigration ‘services’. ID cards have already been tested on migrants seeking asylum and will be used next on other ‘foreigners’.

The Application Registration Card has to be carried by everyone seeking asylum for their regular reporting and to obtain National Asylum Support Service payments from the post office. It is an ID card containing the bearer’s fingerprint, photograph, name, date of birth and nationality.

From this November foreign nationals wanting to enter the UK will have to apply for “biometric residence permits” and their details will be entered into a national identity database. From next year foreign nationals living in the UK will begin to be issued with ID cards. Once migrants have been used to test the scheme, the government’s plan is to issue identity cards to UK citizens on a voluntary basis from 2010, then in 2011 bringing in compulsory ‘choice’ of a passport, ID card or both.

The fact that ID cards and fingerprinting technology has been tested on refugees shows that the state is prepared to impose ID on those people with the least voice to oppose it, before rolling it out to the whole population. The government is trying to get ID plans accepted by cynical scapegoating of immigrants especially ‘asylum seekers’ .

No Borders South Wales will be holding a protest against ID cards, biometric passports, and the surveillance society in general on Saturday 4th October at 2pm outside the Passport Office, Olympia House, Upper Dock Street, Newport, NP20 1XA (map). We will be distributing leaflets and raising awareness about the new ID laws that come into force this November. Come and join us.

In order to further spread information about our activities and upcoming events we’ve produced our first newsletter. In the past we’ve contributed articles to the South Wales Anarchists newsletter Gagged!, (here’s all our stories) but as an issue hasn’t appeared in a little while, we decided to produce our own.

In the run up to Christmas there has been a marked increase in immigration raids in South Wales, with arrests in Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport & Rhondda as well large raids in North Wales. 9 people were arrested following a raid by cops & Borders & Immigration officers on a restaurant on City Road, Read the rest of this entry »